Academic Journal of Nawroz University (AJNU), Vol.9, No.3, Jan 2020 This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License Copyright ©2017. e-ISSN: 2520-789X https://doi.org/10.25007/ajnu.v9n3a792 Honorifics in Northern Kurmanji with Reference to English 12Parween Saadi Abdulaziz, 2 Izzuddin Rajab Mohammad 1 Department. of English, Salahaddin University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq 2 Department. of English, Nawroz University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq ABSTRACT Honorifics are elements of language that can be represented by both lexical categories like nouns and functional categories like pronouns. They are respect, formality, and distance- related concepts and they have been of major concern to many sociolinguists and pragmatists. The current work is a pragmatic and sociolinguistic approach to honorifics in Northern Kurmanji/ Bahdinan area The Voice of Village. Honorifics are identified ” دهنگێ گوندى“ with reference to English. Data are collected from Waar TV. program and classified into categories; then they are explained. Data analysis shows that Northern Kurmanji does not achieve honorification morphologically, but rather lexically. Thus, it is a non- honorific language. Moreover, not only is the second-person plural pronoun used as an honorific, when addressing a single person, but also the first-person plural pronoun. Sometimes, the core function of honorifics is reversed to show disrespect in the context of irony. KEYWORDS: Honorifics, Politeness, T/V Forms, Address Terms, Kinship Terms. 1. Introduction Honorifics are linguistic forms of politeness that signal - What are the factors that affect the use of honorifics respect and social distance. Honorifics are usually in Northern Kurmanji spoken discourse? conveyed through morphological, lexical and 1.3 The Hypotheses grammatical forms (Matthews, 2007, p. 146). Honorifics As preconceptions of the topic of the current study, the have always been of great significance in following hypotheses are formulated: communication. They provide much information about - Honorification in Northern Kurmanji is not realized the person addressed or referred to. They also sooth the morphologically, but rather lexically. situation and serve politeness purposes among the - It is only the second person plural pronoun that participants in any conversation be it casual or formal. functions as an honorific in Northern Kurmanji 1.1 Aims of the Study Kurdish. The objective of this research is to provide an academic 1.4 Limits of the Study investigation of honorifics in Northern Kurmanji from a The study is limited to the analysis of spoken Northern sociolinguistic and a pragmatic perspective. Kurmanji Kurdish. The data are taken from WAAR TV. ./ :dænge 'gʊndi' /دهنگێ گوندى Research Questions program 1.2 The following research questions guide the investigation 2. Honorifics: Theoretical Background of the use of honorifics in Northern Kurmanji: 2.1 Definitions - What honorifics do Northern Kurmanji speakers The definitions of honorifics in this subsection are use? organized thematically from general to specific. The - At what language level does honorification work in view of honorifics is expressed in general in honorific Northern Kurmanji? languages, in which the morphological criterion is 235 Academic Journal of Nawroz University (AJNU), Vol.9, No.1, Jan 2020 decisive, then the honorifics are tackled from a lexical Japanese. The notion of honorific does not correlate with perspective as they occur in non- honorific languages. formality as it can also be found in informal situations. Honorifics are special linguistic forms that express An honorific designates the implication that this is the deference towards the addressee or referent. They are person referred to. In Japanese, for example, there are regarded as an integral part of politeness in language use two categories of honorifics which are based on a and they need to be investigated from pragmatic and syntactic criterion. In a Japanese sentence, meaning "The sociolinguistic perspectives (Shibatani, 2009, p. 381). professor helped me.", the verb "help" can be marked to Honorifics are a type of social deixis that make a indicate respect for the professor, the subject of the connection between social function and linguistic sentence; thus, known as subject honorific. On the other structure (Irvine, 2009, p. 156). Language users are prone hand, in a sentence meaning "He helped the professor.", to use diverse ways of expressing honorification as a different style of markedness is used to show respect potent symbols of politeness and status inherently for the professor and this is the case of object honorific endowed with social meaning (Agha, 2007, p. 303). The (Matthews, 2007, p. 146). term honorific refers to a conventionalized usage of Honorifics are not only viewed as politeness markers but lexical or grammatical forms to express respect towards they also signify the speaker's dignity and elegance (Ide, others but not the speaker and it is viewed as addressee- 2005, p. 44). The function of honorifics is not to raise the controlled term which is a sub- kind of terms of address status of the addressee but to acknowledge such a status. (Matthews, 2007, p. 145). In Japanese the prefix o- is Therefore, honorifics do not create new status but are attached to a neutral form of a noun, adjective, or verb to realizations of the existence of two status: the high status constitute a respectful form, as in "o- kerei, meaning of the addressee/ referent/ bystander and the low status "pretty", the respectful form of the unmarked one "kerei" of the speaker (Ide, 2009, p. 231). (Trask, 1993, p. 129). For Levinson (1983, p. 89) honorifics are socially- deictic The definitions provided by both Shibatani (2009, p. 381) expressions that reflect and Matthews, (2007, p. 145) are restricted as they the social identities of the participants, i.e. their roles and attribute honorification to other participants and the social relationship between the interlocutors; or excludes the speaker. This assumption is untenable as between one of them and the entity or the person the speaker also can express honorification towards referred to. him/herself, using the first-person plural pronoun "We". The term honorific is taken in a broader sense by Tehrani Honorifics can be commonly seen as a trait of oriental and Yeganeh (1999, p. 108) to incorporate not only languages and can be expressed by diverse appositional addressing terms but other formulaic expressions as well expressions for the sake of dignifying and honoring like "Would you…?", "May I…?", etc, taking into people addressed or referred to (Aliakbari and Toni, consideration that English has no complex system of 2008, p. 9). honorifics compared to some Asian languages like According to Crystal (2003, p. 221), honorifics convey Japanese, Hindi, Madurese, etc. A two- pronged levels of politeness or respect in comparison with the approach is a requirement for the achievement of a relevant social status of the interlocutors. They are thorough study of honorifics: "honorifics as grammatical syntactic or morphological distinctions especially in forms" is a concept easy to approach, whereas their 236 Academic Journal of Nawroz University (AJNU), Vol.9, No.1, Jan 2020 study in actual context of situation in terms of Koger's (1991) opinion (Cited in Spencer- Oatey, 2008, p. pragmatics and sociolinguistics needs elaborate 34). investigation. French and Raven (1959 cited in Spencer- Oatey, 2008, Agha (1998, p. 151) uses the term honorific in collocation pp. 34 – 35) suggest five kinds of power: with register and defines honorific registers as discrete • Reward Power: If a person has control over elements, formally and stratified systems, functionally. another's desired positive outcomes; such as, job This definition indicates that honorifics can be seen as promotions and bonus payments. frozen elements of language that can be learnt by heart • Coercive Power: If a person has control over and they are used according to social (and other domains another's unwanted negative outcomes; such as, of life) hierarchies. undesirable tasks, demotion, and allocation. The use of honorifics also requires the communicative • Expert Power: A speaker has control over the hearer competence notion suggested by Hymes (1966); the if the former has knowledge or expertise that the notion of saying what, to whom, when, where and how. latter needs. Yscout (2014, p. 2) uses the term The appropriate use of honorifics (and many other Information Power to convey the same idea. socially required linguistic expressions) is vital at a later • Legitimate Power: A speaker is authorized to stage of language speakers when they master language prescribe or expect some things or tasks from the in terms of social conventions and culture. hearer due to the former's institutionalized rights. In 2.2 Power and Solidarity legitimate power, institutional instructions can be Honorifics are principal in social life to which they are acceptable to some extent as speakers are entitled to linked by two dimensions, namely: power and practice the power. For instance, a teacher is obliged solidarity. to handle classroom management issues and has the 2.2.1 Power right to comply students to abide his rules, as in "Get Power comes under various titles; such as, social power, into groups of four!" yet "Get me a cup of tea!" is a status, dominance, authority (Spencer- Oatey, 2008, p. personal instruction and is less likely acceptable by 34) and is nonreciprocal